Business and Civil Rights Leaders Support ACLU Challenge to NSA Warrantless Wiretapping

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today announced the filing of
two friend-of-the-court briefs supporting its lawsuit challenging the National
Security Agency’s illegal domestic spying program. One brief was submitted on
behalf of six prominent leaders of the nation’s business community and the other
by five leading civil rights organizations.

“We stand today as Americans from many different walks of life, united in
defense of our Constitution and the rule of law,” said Anthony D. Romero,
Executive Director of the ACLU. “We welcome the support of business
leaders and civil rights advocates who recognize that warrantless spying on
Americans is harmful to our democracy and detrimental to our reputation in the
global community.”

The signers of the civil rights friend-of-the-court brief are the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee; Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund;
United for Peace and Justice; and the Japanese Americans Citizens League.

Signing onto the business leaders’ friend-of-the-court brief are:

Michael Kieschnick, President, Chief Operating Officer, and a co-founder of
Working Assets Funding Service, Inc., a telecommunications, credit card, and
media company with over $100 million in annual revenue;

Ronald Algrant, Senior Vice President of International Sales at HarperCollins
Publishers and former Chair of the Freedom to Publish Committee of the American
Association of Publishers;

Adam Kanzer, General Counsel and Director of Shareholder Advocacy of Domini
Social Investments. Domini is an investment firm that manages over $1.8
billion in assets for its individual and institutional
investors;

Peter Strugatz, President of Strugatz Ventures, Inc., a private equity
investment firm, and is the founder and co-CEO of IceStone LLC, a leading
manufacturer of sustainable home building products; and,

Joe Sibilia, President and CEO of Meadowbrook Lane Capital, an investment
bank whose principals have over $17 billion worth of transaction
experience. MBLC provides a wide range of investment banking and other
financial and strategic services for its clients and owns a controlling interest
in CSRwire, a global news distribution and resource service.

In their brief, the civil rights organizations pointed to decades of spying
on Americans -- including members of their organizations -- that was
halted only after a congressional investigation in the 1970’s exposed the
abuses. The groups said they believed the current NSA spying program “exhibits
the same unchecked executive power that led to abusive surveillance of civil
rights advocates and others in the past and circumvents the statute enacted
specifically to prevent such surveillance from reoccurring.”

The brief signed by leaders in the business community highlighted the
importance of confidential communications and trust in American democratic
values to economic growth. “In order for this country’s international and
domestic commerce to continue to thrive, it is imperative that the United States
be perceived on the world stage as rigorously upholding its own laws,
particularly with respect to the confidentiality of telephonic and electronic
communications,” they said in their brief.

Since 2001, the NSA has been secretly intercepting the phone and e-mail
communications of Americans without first obtaining judicial approval. According
to the ACLU, the NSA spying program authorized by President Bush violates the
free speech and privacy rights of innocent Americans and jeopardizes the free
flow of information that is essential to democracy and that thousands of
businesses, journalists and lawyers depend on for their livelihood. Under
the program, the NSA is also engaging in wholesale datamining by sifting through
millions of calls and e-mails of ordinary Americans. Saying that the Bush
administration’s illegal spying on Americans must end, the ACLU filed its
lawsuit against the NSA in January of this year.

The ACLU lawsuit was filed on behalf of a group of prominent journalists,
scholars, attorneys, and national nonprofit organizations (including the ACLU)
who frequently communicate by phone and e-mail with people in the Middle
East. Because of the nature of their calls and e-mails, they believe the
program is disrupting their ability to talk with sources, locate witnesses,
conduct scholarship and engage in advocacy. The spying program has sparked
national and international furor and has been condemned by lawmakers across the
political spectrum.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District
Court in the Eastern District of Michigan, seeks a court order declaring that
the NSA spying is illegal and ordering its immediate and permanent halt.
Attorneys in the case are Ann Beeson, Jameel Jaffer and Melissa Goodman of the
national ACLU, and Michael Steinberg of the ACLU of Michigan. The civil
rights organizations are represented by Jonathan Hafetz of the Brennan Center
for Justice. The business leaders are represented by Theresa A. Chmara at
Jenner & Block, LLP.

The government’s opposition brief is due May 19, to which the ACLU will
respond May 26. Oral arguments are currently scheduled for June
12.

For more information on the lawsuit, including the legal complaint, fact
sheets on the case law and on the NSA spying program, and links to statements
from the groups and individuals who signed onto today’s friend-of-the-court
briefs, please go to www.aclu.org/nsaspying